Muse’s Supremacy takes on Depeche Mode’s Heaven in this week’s Music Video Fight Club

It’s the battle of the stadium rock giants this week as Muse’s Supremacy takes on Depeche Mode’s Heaven – but which will win Music Video Fight Club?

STORY

Muse take to the beach for their latest effort Supremacy, with Matt Bellamy and co performing the prog rock epic against a backdrop of goth surfers, who take to the water and show off some impressive wave-riding skills without so much as denting their bizarre white facepaint.

The goth pack later prove they have other talents (putting their lipstick on straight doesn’t appear to be one of them, mind), as they ride skateboards, dance around on the beach while waving flaming torches and hang about looking moody. Which in those clothes isn’t hard.

Depeche Mode, meanwhile, take a more complex approach in their clip for new single Heaven, which they claim was inspired by the Terrence Malick film The Tree Of Life. The video sees Dave Gahan and co performing the song inside what looks like an abandoned church, while beams of light and odd figures swirl around in the background.

There’s a masked woman in a corset, for example, a man in a creepy white mask who keeps popping up from time to time, while every so often a tree appears, some people in black robes ascend skywards and Gahan switches between black leather and a white suit. We’re sure it’s all very symbolic but we still don’t get it.

Winner: Both seem to be equally weird and wonderful but Depeche Mode take round one for being just that bit weirder, to the extent that you’ll watch it all over again just to try and figure out what’s going on.

SONG

Supremacy, the latest single from Muse’s recent album The 2nd Law, is a bit of stately, epic stadium rock which starts off slow and gradually builds to squealing guitars, screeching vocals and headbanging mayhem. There’s even a few strings in there, which put us in mind of what a James Bond theme might sound like if Muse were to record it. Dramatic stuff.

Depeche Mode, meanwhile, slow the tempo right down with Heaven, a moody, bluesy number that’s a world away from their new romantic pop days. That said, it drags somewhat and seems a lot longer than its four minute run time. The Saturdays may have succeeded in covering the band’s 80s synth-pop classic Just Can’t Get Enough but we think they would struggle to do the same with this.

Winner: Both songs have their merits but Muse takes round two for not sending us to sleep on the very first listen.

LYRICS

Muse: Wake to see/your true emancipation is a fantasy/Policies have risen up and overcome the brave/Greatness dies, unsung and lost, invisible to history/Embedded spies brainwashing our children to be mean.

Depeche Mode: Take comfort in my skin/Endlessly/Surrender to my will/Forever and ever/I dissolve in trust/I will sing with joy/I will end up dust/I’m in heaven.

Winner: Again, both veer towards the intellectual, scratching of heads in puzzlement side of things, but Muse’s penchant for long words makes them winners of this round.

Overall winner: Matt Bellamy and Muse win this week’s Video Fight Club by the narrowest of squeaks. Or, to put it another way, they have Supremacy over Depeche Mode (sorry we couldn’t resist…..)